Boxing: Karen Dulin fighter

By Michael Rivest

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

I first met Karen Dulin in 2011, at a weigh-in before an Albany ARES Promotions card.

Just in from Mystic, CT, she had driven here alone to face Jaci Trivilino, one of the area's most popular fighters. Yet there she sat, all by herself in enemy territory. She flashed a smile that lit a disarmingly pretty face, and we talked.

I was reminded of that night when Karen called last week, upset that the NYS Athletic Commission wouldn't approve her to fight in New York until she wins another bout. They require that a fighter have at least one victory in the last six fights. Karen doesn't. "I want to end my career my way, when I'm ready," she said, adding: "I loved fighting in Albany. Everybody treated me well, the promoter, the fans, everybody."

So why am I writing about her now, or at all for that matter? She's a 2-12 fighter. It's because Dulin represents so much of what I love about boxing. Sometimes records are only numbers, and numbers add up to nothing. There are times when a fighter's personal journey is what matters.

"Why do you fight?" I remember asking her, long ago.

The question had brought another smile, broader and more relaxed than the last. "Boxing is just what I do. It's difficult to explain, but it brings my past together in a way that makes sense in the now."

Life has not been a straight line for the 37-year-old Dulin. She lived in Portsmouth, NH until she was 17, moving then to Boston to work for Americorps, a non-profit organization that helps people in need. The work took her to California, and then back again a couple of years later.

Dulin was perfect in the helper role. She's very intelligent and insightful, qualities that evidenced themselves the more we talked. She also knows firsthand the cost of growing up in less than perfect circumstances. "My father had mental health issues and was very angry. But he came from a traumatic background himself. He was a Czech immigrant whose parents beat him." Her history with her mother isn't much better. Home became a place to avoid, something she does to this day. "I go once a year."

There was no need to dwell on details. There is much Dulin didn't even care to remember, let alone tell a stranger. "I know that something terrible happened when I was around four, but I can't really recall it and don't think it's necessary that I do."

Dulin is strangely at peace with her past. In fact, she's very together and grounded, and talked of it only because she was asked, not because she felt a particular need to.

For her and others, boxing has great resonance as a metaphor for life. "Boxing's not an outlet for anger as much as it is what life is - a fight, a struggle," she said. "It gives me a sense of power over my life, a sense of control." Metaphors speak to those who need them. For lovers, a rose with its beauty and thorns requires no explanation; for those for whom life has been a struggle, boxing doesn't either.

Know this about her 2-12 record: she didn't get it fighting nobodies, but by saying "yes" to anybody, like Trivilino, Nydia Feliciano, Lucia Larcinese, Jennifer Salinas, and the still undefeated Ronica Jeffrey. "It was never about just winning, but fighting." Damn the torpedoes.

Referee Charlie Fitch once told me that it isn't the fighters with the best records who make him love boxing, but those who don't much care about their records, those whose attraction to boxing comes from another place. They find in boxing a deep meaning not every one would understand. "But for those who do, it's beautiful," Fitch said.

Dulin called back yesterday to say she's found a fight in South Carolina on April 27, against a yet-to-be-named opponent. She'll be travelling by herself, and at her own expense. She'll come back with the win, count on it. Then you can come see her in Albany. "I'd love to have her fight on a future card," said ARES head Adam Neary.